Episode 116 – Wondrous Words with Deep and Profound Meaning
>> He expounded Right Dharma with goodness in the beginning, middle and end. The meaning is deep and profound. The words are skillful and wondrous, pure without distractions and complete with the marks of pure practice”
>> [His teachings] were unfathomable to. Two Vehicle [practitioners], so He hid the true and manifested the provisional. He split His teachings into three periods and expounded the Agama teachings. The meaning is deep and profound. The words are skillful and wondrous.
>> Speaking according to others’ capacities is skillful.
>> “These three all have right faith, right actions and right fruitions. Thus, they are called Right Dharma”
>> The meaning of the Dharma is unsurpassed, therefore, “The meaning is deep and profound.” Expounding Dharma according to the capabilities of sentient beings enables them to attain benefits.
>> He expounded Dharma to enable all sentient beings to transform evil into goodness, to transform defilements into purity, all to lead them towards ultimate unsurpassed Bodhi so they will not settle in the Two Vehicles. Thus, it is “pure without distractions”
>> All kinds of skillful means were opened and revealed so we may realize and enter the Buddha’s wisdom
As Buddhist practitioners, we must remember to reverently and sincerely reflect upon the Dharma at all times after we read or hear it. Then the Dharma will enter our hearts and naturally manifest in our actions. This is what we Buddhist practitioners must do.
Does everyone remember the sutra passage we previously discussed? It was Manjusri Bodhisattva’s description of how past Buddhas expounded the Dharma
He expounded Right Dharma with goodness in the beginning, middle and end. The meaning is deep and profound. The words are skillful and wondrous, pure without distractions and complete with the marks of pure practice”
Previously, I shared with everyone that the Buddha is the Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans who appears in this world. His teachings at the beginning, middle and end all have deep and profound meanings and the words are skillful and wondrous. This is the Dharma widely taught by the Buddha for sentient beings when He came to this world. We now must understand that the excellence in the beginning, middle and end was explained according to sentient beings’ capabilities.
Excellence in the beginning came from the Buddha’s original intent to freely share what He attained. Even heavenly beings and Dharma-protectors could not comprehend it; how could people in this world comprehend it? So for a period of time, the Buddha was very discouraged. For the sake of sentient beings, He engaged in spiritual practice and attained enlightenment, so of course He wanted to teach them the Dharma. But what should He do if no one could understand? So, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas appeared to comfort Sakyamuni Buddha and said, “Sentient beings have always been like this. Since You are enlightened, You have this very rare opportunity to exercise Your inherent abilities, Your might in loving-kindness and. Your intrinsic Samadhi and wisdom, to go among sentient beings and transform them.”
So, Sakyamuni Buddha began to think about the methods He would use to teach people. Thus, for 42 years, He sincerely and skillfully guided them with skillful means according to their capacities. He taught the Dharma that was suitable for them. After 42 years, the Buddha wanted to freely express and share His original intent, spiritual state and the causes and conditions of His coming to the world. So, this is the third and last stage of teaching. When He expounded the Dharma toward the end, skillful means were set aside for direct teachings. He began to reveal the ultimate truth. So, He expounded Dharma in three periods of time.
[His teachings] were unfathomable to. Two Vehicle [practitioners], so He hid the true and manifested the provisional. He split His teachings into three periods and expounded the Agama teachings. The meaning is deep and profound. The words are skillful and wondrous.
Actually, when He expounded the Avatamsaka, at that time, He had many difficulties. Sentient beings truly could not comprehend, because His practice and realization of the truth, which was His original intent, took even Him a very long time to achieve. Since it took such a long period of time for. Him to practice and attain this, how could heavenly beings and Dharma-protectors understand this right away?
Also, even the sages of the Two and Three Vehicles in this world could not comprehend it either. So, heavenly beings and humans could not understand the Buddha’s original intention because its meaning was so deep and profound. The words are skillful and wondrous. So at that time, the Buddha had to teach what was suitable for sentient beings’ needs and abilities. This is called “skillful and wondrous.” Depending on the states of sentient beings’ minds, the Buddha would teach them accordingly to transform their deluded and ordinary minds and guide them to take in the Dharma. So, He had to use clever and skillful means to speak according to others’ capacities. Whatever sentient beings needed, He gave it to them in a way that they could understand, simply and clearly.
Speaking according to others’ capacities is skillful.
“Using the provisional to reveal the true is wondrous.”
In order to freely carry out His original intent, He had to utilize sentient beings’ complex habitual tendencies and their numerous afflictions. We often say, “Afflictions are Bodhi.” The afflictions of myriad sentient beings are the sufferings that the Buddha investigated. So, He already understood that the suffering of this world comes from sentient beings’ various habitual tendencies and complex afflictions. They cause so much difficulty and suffering. This is what the Buddha investigated.
At that point, He already understood this, so He bestowed Dharma-medicine according to sentient beings’ illnesses. In “speaking according to others’ capacities,” the Buddha took advantage of the numerous afflictions of sentient beings to put His wisdom to good use. This was “skillful and wondrous.”
“These three all have right faith, right actions and right fruitions. Thus, they are called Right Dharma.”
Before, we spoke of the Buddha’s Right Dharma. Remember, the right Dharma the Buddha taught was the excellence in the beginning, middle and end. Of course, the excellence in the beginning was the Buddha’s original intent, which we ordinary sentient beings could not immediately accept because it is too profound. But the Buddha in His compassion never abandoned sentient beings and created all kinds of skillful teachings. This is the excellence in the middle. This is also used to inspire right faith in all beings because sentient beings have remained deluded.
During the Buddha’s lifetime, there were many religious sects. The Buddha engaged in spiritual practice to help people perfect their right faith. Then He wanted to share the fruits of spiritual practice so that everyone could have right faith. After right faith, we must take the right actions. Only when we have right faith and right actions can we attain the right fruitions. The true fruition of our spiritual practice is to return to our pure intrinsic nature, which is equal to the Buddha’s. This is the ultimate fruit of spiritual practice. If our spiritual practice lacks right faith and right actions, we cannot attain the right fruitions. Then difficulties arise, and we remain in the Six Realms of cyclic existence. When we are born again, we must start over from the beginning to develop right faith, right actions and right fruitions.
The Buddha comes here for the sole purpose of teaching the Dharma and leading all beings to take right actions to [achieve] right fruitions. Thus the Dharma He expounded, whether in the beginning, middle or end, is all inseparable from the Right Dharma. So, the meaning of the Dharma is unsurpassed. Each skillful means used in the past 42 years was also carefully thought out and taught according to sentient beings’ capabilities and needs. They could also be used to guide everyone to right faith. Even the skillful means were established to enable everyone to have right faith. So, the meaning of the Dharma is unsurpassed. The supreme wisdom of the Buddha has deep and profound meaning.
The meaning of the Dharma is unsurpassed, therefore, “The meaning is deep and profound.” Expounding Dharma according to the capabilities of sentient beings enables them to attain benefits.
The meaning of the Dharma expounded by the Buddha is deep and profound. All of it is the Right Dharma. Though adapted to sentient beings’ abilities, it is all still the Right Dharma. So this Dharma, though suited to sentient beings’ capabilities, still enables sentient beings to reap benefits. This benefit is the attainment of the Right Dharma. With right actions, they attain right fruitions. Because the Buddha is pointing sentient beings to the right [ultimate] goal, Therefore, “The words are skillful and wondrous.” Everything He said was to help sentient beings avoid straying off-course. This is truly very skillful and wondrous.
Thus,
He expounded Dharma to enable all sentient beings to transform evil into goodness, to transform defilements into purity, all to lead them towards ultimate unsurpassed Bodhi so they will not settle in the Two Vehicles. Thus, it is “pure without distractions.”
The Dharma that the Buddha taught enables all sentient beings to transform evil into goodness. Why do we commit evil? Evil comes from our greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. If we doubt the Right Dharma, we are unable to look back and accept the true Dharma.
Now, young people are arrogant and doubtful. They do not believe in their elders’ path of propriety, justice, integrity and honor. Because of that disbelief, their hearts are constantly defiled, and they will do bad deeds. Thus, they manifest evil thoughts and actions because their hearts have been defiled by ignorance. So, they do not believe in ethics, morality or propriety. Because this is the case, the Buddha used the law of karmic retribution to guide us through each step so we can understand how our arrogance and conceit hurt others, and in the end, also hurt ourselves. He used many methods to explain this.
So, the Dharma the Buddha expounded aims to “transform evil into goodness” and “transform defilements into purity, to lead them toward ultimate unsurpassed Bodhi.” We must not say, “Aren’t these very simple words? What do they have to do with our lives or with our parents? What do they have to do with our elders, or with the Buddha-Dharma?” It has everything to do with the Buddha-Dharma. The Buddha-Dharma is related to worldly practices and is completely used to manage our hearts. If our hearts start to deviate, we can quickly guide them back so that we can return to our intrinsic kind nature.
If we can maintain that, we can slowly return to [the path of] the ultimate, unsurpassed Bodhi. As we learn Buddhism, this is what we must truly understand. This Dharma also enables us to “not settle in the Two Vehicles; thus it is pure without distractions.” We must not stop at the stage of the Two Vehicles of Hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. The Buddha told us to do good deeds. Do not hesitate in doing what is good. This is right. Doing good deeds is wondrous existence. When we are free of obstructions, that is true emptiness. But have we really attained the ultimate? The ultimate wondrous existence is what the Buddha truly wanted to expound. He wanted us to not have attachments. But have we really reached the state of true emptiness? Our minds should be free of attachments. Have we reached that state of mind? Not yet.
Some people say, “I recite the name of the Buddha.” But it is easy to be attached to just chanting. Remember? When my teacher, Master Yin Shun was here, [he made a comment] when people responded to what they heard by saying “Amitabha, Amitabha.” Remember? At the time, didn’t we often hear him challenge the volunteers, “Why are you always chanting Amitabha? Do you know what it means?” The same principle applies. Although we are engaged in spiritual practice in our daily living, do we have to say this name at all times?
When reciting the Buddha’s name, we need to let it enter our hearts so we have a Buddha-heart. That means we cannot bear to let sentient beings suffer, so we do good deeds. But in doing good, we cannot become attached. We need to have a Bodhisattva’s heart and give unconditionally while being grateful. These kinds of causes and conditions give us the opportunity to create good affinities. But Bodhisattvas do not become attached to even the good affinities they create. They just give. This is wondrous existence. To relieve the suffering of sentient beings is the mission of Buddhist practitioners, and. It comes from our inherent ability and original kind nature. So, we must be pure without distractions and not become so attached to what we have heard that we insist that things have to be this way.
Therefore, the Dharma expounded by the Buddha does not settle on the Two Vehicles. So, the Dharma expounded now by the Buddha is pure without distractions. This was His original intent. Everything He taught is without complications and is very pure. The Dharma is like very pure water that can cleanse our defilements and discursive thoughts. Therefore, the Right Dharma is pure without distractions.
All kinds of skillful means were opened and revealed so we may realize and enter the Buddha’s wisdom.
The Right Dharma is used to guide everyone to have a purified mind.
No matter what we do in our daily living, we should practice giving. As we do this, we must be free from attachments, pure and without distractions. In this world we cannot lack skillful means, but the [essence of] the true Dharma must still be in our hearts. Therefore, the Dharma was opened and revealed so we may realize and enter it. He made use of all kinds of worldly matters to help sentient beings understand. We often say, “Witness suffering to recognize blessings.” Seeing others’ hardships, we must nurture our compassion. This is part of our essence.
So everyone, as you study the Dharma please continually try to comprehend each paragraph of the sutras and apply it to your daily living. That is truly being mindful.